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Community tells panel Council should ‘tighten their belts’ instead of spending on Aquatic Centre

Public attending a Bundaberg Regional Ratepayers Association panel discussion in Childers said council should “tighten their belts” instead of splashing $75m on a new aquatic centre.

Improved transparency in financial reporting by council and concerns with the Bundaberg Aquatic Centre were topics of hot discussion at a panel discussion organised by the Bundaberg Regional Ratepayers Association in Childers.
Improved transparency in financial reporting by council and concerns with the Bundaberg Aquatic Centre were topics of hot discussion at a panel discussion organised by the Bundaberg Regional Ratepayers Association in Childers.

Improved transparency in financial reporting and concerns with the Bundaberg Aquatic Centre were hot topics at a ratepayer association event in Childers on Wednesday.
The panel including former mayor Lorraine Pyefinch, former councillor Ross Sommerfeld and Bundaberg Regional Ratepayers Association Helen Blackburn, who fielded questions from an audience of about 50 people.

The panel including former mayor Lorraine Pyefinch, former councillor Ross Sommerfeld and Bundaberg Regional Ratepayers Association Helen Blackburn fielded questions from the audience.
The panel including former mayor Lorraine Pyefinch, former councillor Ross Sommerfeld and Bundaberg Regional Ratepayers Association Helen Blackburn fielded questions from the audience.

Many questions touched on the 2023-24 budget recently brought down by council, including the rates freeze which while it was welcomed, prompted concern for how the council would pay for projects such as the Bundaberg Aquatic Centre.

One member of the public said the tough economic conditions that necessitated council’s “cost of living” budget should require council to “tighten their belts” instead of funding the $83m Bundaberg Aquatic Centre project.

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“A lot of people are doing it tough ... I don’t think we should even be thinking about putting in a new Aquatic Centre,” he said.

“We’ve got to be thinking about scaling back as a council and doing just the essential services.”

Many questions from the audience touched on the 2023-24 budget recently brought down by Council, with the rates freeze announced in the budget causing concern at how Council will pay for mega-projects including the Bundaberg Aquatic Centre.
Many questions from the audience touched on the 2023-24 budget recently brought down by Council, with the rates freeze announced in the budget causing concern at how Council will pay for mega-projects including the Bundaberg Aquatic Centre.

In response, Ms Blackburn said that while the ratepayers association had asked Council to implement a rates freeze in the budget, it was a “concern” that council had not how it would cut costs or improve transparency in financial reporting.

Council blocked a motion by Councillor Greg Barnes to provide detailed financial reporting of the progress of the aquatic centre project, and is yet to provide detailed costings in response to an RTI submitted by NewsMail on behalf of a ratepayer.

“Council has given us what we asked for, but they haven’t shown us where they are going to cut anything either; so that is a concern,” Ms Blackburn said.

“But there were some things that the association did ask for which were free, and they are transparency and accountability in terms of providing line numbers for items so that we could see where our money is going.”

The moderator of the event, Childers Chamber of Commerce secretary Wayne Heidrich, said the organisation was “peeved” that Childers did not receive funding from the $13m Works for Queensland grant.

Lorraine Pyefinch, the first mayor of the amalgamated Bundaberg Regional Council, said she "wouldn’t have agreed to sign up for" the $75m Aquatic Centre project.
Lorraine Pyefinch, the first mayor of the amalgamated Bundaberg Regional Council, said she "wouldn’t have agreed to sign up for" the $75m Aquatic Centre project.

“One thing that really peeved people on the Chamber of Commerce here is usually (the Works for Queensland grant) is divvied up across the shire for small projects,” he said.

“But that whole $13m went into the pool. So as a community we’re not only paying for it through our rates, but we’re also paying for it through loss of revenue for projects that could have been done to improve and enhance lifestyles within our communities.”

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Former mayor Lorraine Pyefinch said while council discussed moving the now-demolished Anzac Pool during her time as the first mayor of the amalgamated Bundaberg Regional Council, she would have delivered the Aquatic Centre in stages due to the high overall cost of the project.

“Anzac Pool had to be closed and moved, the site was too constrained,” she said.

“But I wouldn’t have agreed to sign up for a $75 million project; I probably would have staged it because these things are very expensive and you don’t get a lot of income from kids going through swimming lessons and things like that.”

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Original URL: https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/bundaberg/community/community-tells-panel-council-should-tighten-their-belts-instead-of-spending-on-aquatic-centre/news-story/1d94f045d110942591f653cec5088e10